Finding the right dentist to improve your oral health.
No matter how careful you are with your oral hygiene at home, your dentist plays an essential role in keeping your teeth and gums healthy. Dentists are trained to spot and treat oral health concerns early and can give you much-needed advice on how to improve your routine at home. Unfortunately, choosing a new dentist can sometimes feel like finding a good date through an online dating app—but with more research and less romance.
Once you’ve picked a new dentist, your first appointment can be a little nerve-wracking. Just like it’s a good idea to know what to expect before you go on a date, it’s helpful to know what to expect before you arrive at your first appointment with a new dentist! Knowing the little details will help you feel less anxious and ensure that your appointment goes smoothly. With that in mind, here’s a breakdown of what you should expect as a new patient at Ada Smile Place.
You can schedule an appointment for your entire family all on one day.
When you call to schedule your appointment at Ada Smile Place, you don’t have to worry about making time to take each of your kids to the dentist on separate days. Since we’re focused on family dentistry, we treat patients of all ages. We know you’re busy, so we make it easy for you to schedule your entire family’s yearly appointments all in a single day. This makes getting dental care for your entire family more convenient than ever, as you’ll only have to take part of a single day off work to get yourself and your kids to the dentist.
You can fill out your paperwork at home to make check-in easier.
Most dental offices require you to arrive at least 15 minutes early for your first dental appointment so that you have time to fill out your patient registration forms, but it’s easy to get caught up in your busy day, get stuck in traffic, or simply forget that you need to arrive early to fill out paperwork. When this happens, even when you arrive at the appointment exactly on time, you’ll likely end up feeling you need to rush through the registration paperwork, which adds unnecessary stress to your appointment.
We solve this problem by providing copies of our new patient registration forms online, which you can print out at home and complete before you arrive in our office. Then you simply bring the forms to your appointment along with your insurance information. You should also make sure you have an updated list of any medical diagnoses and medications, as knowing this information will help your dentist take better care of your oral health.
Your first visit at Ada Smile Place is easy.
Especially since you can fill out your paperwork before you arrive at our office, your first appointment will be nearly as simple and easy as your future appointments. First, a dental assistant will review your medical history with you. Once that’s complete, the assistant will take all the necessary diagnostic radiographs (X-rays), digital photos, and intraoral photos. Those images will help the team see where you are right now and in the future. It’s always vital to establish a baseline because teeth often shift as we age. We also need a reference to gauge future wear. Too much wear can be an indicator of bruxism (teeth grinding).
Next, your hygienist will get to know you and give your teeth and gums a careful evaluation. The hygienist will be evaluating your gums for gum disease and built-up tartar or calculus. They will also check for any possible gum recession and bone loss from periodontal disease.
After that, your dentist will come meet you and talk about your oral health goals. The doctor will also complete a range-of-motion evaluation which will allow us to spot any issues with the temporomandibular joint, better known as TMJ. We’ll also complete an oral cancer screening and a thorough evaluation. After the evaluation, the doctor will review their findings and discuss any issues as well as offer their diagnosis and recommendations for the next steps in treatment.
You’ll receive quality care from a welcoming, compassionate team.
Throughout your entire appointment, you’ll be interacting with our team. We’re proud to say every team member is friendly and professional, working hard to provide you with high-quality care while ensuring you’re as comfortable and relaxed as possible! To show you a snapshot of what you can expect from someone who’s experienced it, here’s one of our reviews:
“This place’s customer/patient service is incredible! You won’t feel like you’re at the dentist, they make sure you’re always comfortable and they’re very professional and answer pretty much every single question that you may have. I believe Lainie is the lady’s name that did my deep cleaning and it was a breeze, other than me being an extremely nervous case. She made sure that my comfort was her #1 priority throughout the entire process and she did an amazing job! Ada Smile Place is definitely my go-to dentist from now on.” – Mitch Boyd
Your dentist will take the time to speak with you.
Once your dentist has examined your teeth, they won’t just rush off—they’ll take the time to speak with you. They’ll update you on your oral health, provide advice about how you improve your oral health at home. You’ll also be able to ask them any questions you might have, and they’ll take the time to answer them as thoroughly as possible. We always make sure that you have all the knowledge necessary to make informed decisions about your oral health and that you leave our office confident in the care and treatment you received!
You can have an anxiety-free appointment at Ada Smile Place with comfort dentistry.
If you struggle with dental anxiety, you can talk to your dentist about comfort dentistry and how it may be able to help you have an anxiety-free dental procedure. During your appointment, we can provide you with nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas, or pair that with prescription medication to assist you. Perhaps you’ve heard of this comfort measure as oral conscious sedation. Oral conscious sedation is usually delivered in the form of a pill and can vary in strength, from simply relaxing you to providing a moderate sedation level—this means that you’re groggy and may doze off during your procedure, but it’s easy for your dentist to wake you up if they need to ask you a question or give you directions. These methods will help you feel comfortable and relaxed throughout your procedure—it may even be over before you know it!
Starting the search for a “dentist near me” and going to your first appointment can be a little nerve-wracking, but knowing what to expect when you visit our Ada, OK, dental office will hopefully help reduce your first-appointment jitters. If you’d like to schedule an appointment or learn more about our emphasis on comfort dentistry, feel free to call our office at any time.
